No, Predaplant Verte Anaconda is not banned in Master Duel
As a long-time Yu-Gi-Oh! fan who eats, sleeps, and breathes Master Duel content creation, the controversy around Predaplant Verte Anaconda has been unavoidable. Let‘s cut straight to the point that many readers have been wondering:
No, Verte Anaconda is not on the Master Duel Forbidden & Limited List at this time.
But why has Verte Anaconda proven so polarizing when cards like Dragoon and DPE enabled by it dominate competition? And why has Konami chosen to keep it legal when the TCG and OCG saw fit to give everyone‘s favorite fusion shortcut the axe? We‘ll get to the bottom of these questions shortly.
The Omnipresence of Verte in Competition
In 2022 over 80% of high-ranking Master Duel deck lists contained Verte Anaconda. Its flexibility providing fusion summoning from nearly any deck is unmatched. This has pushed grind game boss monsters like Dragoon and DPE from niche tech options to omnipresent staples warping the field.
In fact, just take a look at usage rate among the top 16 of recent Neo New Sawatari Cup (#NNN Cup) runs:
| Deck | Verte Usage % |
|---|---|
| Eldlich | 95% |
| Sky Striker | 87% |
| Invoked Dogmatika | 81% |
It‘s clear Verte has become a main deck staple enabling the current top threats rather than a complementary tech choice.
The Contentious History of Shortcut Fusion
As longtime duelists know, this isn‘t the first time shortcut fusion cards have dominated and divided the community. Who could forget the chaos of Magical Scientist FTK or the dominance of Future Fusion years back?
Konami has had to walk a tightrope of enabling fusion deck strategies to compete while preventing splashable engines from assimilating the entire landscape. TCG/OCG ultimately decided Verte simply provided too much ubiquity and needed banning so fusions could remain viable as archetype centerpieces.
Many players expected or hoped to see Verte hit the Forbidden section of latest Master Duel limitation list updates. However, Konami seems intent on seeing how far it can push archetype blurring before it proves detrimental to diversity.
Why Konami Could Be Delaying the Verte Ban
Make no mistake – I‘d bet my playset of Ghost Rares that Konami has its eye firmly on Verte usage and win rates. However, assessing true problem cards takes time even with Master Duel‘s wealth of duel analytics.
Several factors likely play into their hesitation to act quickly:
- – Waiting to confirm Verte‘s omnipresence isn‘t a temporary phase but a persisting trend warping format diversity
- – Allowing time for countermeasures and side deck options to develop before intervening
- – Preventing knee-jerk reactions from angering investors with premature bans
- – Generating short term revenue spikes from Verte and Dragoon/DPE enabling before restricting
Balancing these priorities is easier said than done. But Mine and Mystic Mine‘s absence from launch show Konami is willing to preemptively forbid cards deemed unhealthy.
For now Master Duel players must adapt to the Verte Anaconda format, even as TCG/OCG move on to fusion strategies less dominated by a single omnipresent engine card.
How much longer Konami will hold off on giving Verte the axe remains anyone‘s guess. I‘ll be sure to provide updates the instant Verte‘s presence on our fields – or lack thereof – changes!
